Digital Volunteer Toolkit

By Timalee Nevels
Last year, I had the opportunity to work on a virtual team from across the country on an exciting new project with GSUSA. They asked me to help create an exciting new tool for Volunteers (and girls!) called the Digital Volunteer Toolkit. Having been a Troop Leader of various levels for many years, I was thrilled to be a part of this team creating something that would take volunteers into a 21st century Troop Leadership experience.
We started with brainstorming a list of the basics that a troop leader needs to know and do. We had wish lists of all kinds of resources that troop leaders would love to have at their fingertips. These lists included things like:
Being able to email troop families right after a meeting with homework, pictures from the meeting, excitin…

Camp Fury – A Girl’s Story of Courage, Confidence, and Character

Sophia Kent, Age 13, BASIS Oro Valley
The back of the Camp Fury shirts read: “courage, confidence, and character.” And over the week, I know that the girls at Camp Fury built all of those things, plus friendship and no doubt some muscle. Thirty of us arrived at the Public Safety Training Academy strangers and nervous. A week later, thirty of us left the academy friends and (almost) fearless.
The first few hours of the camp were spent doing physical training (PT) and team building activities. I'm pretty sure that most people thought it was overrated at first, but we used those skills and leadership through the entire week. Maybe it was just me, but during the hours, I was thinking, "Team building? This is JUST like normal camp." As I'm typing this, I'm laughing at just how wrong I w…

Beloved former Board Chair, Christine McNamara has passed away

Christine McNamara, who served the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona for two decades, and was known for other works in the community, died Sunday of a brain tumor.
McNamara, 50, was at Peppi’s House, a hospice at Tucson Medical Center, said close friend Debbie Rich, chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts chapter.
A certified public accountant, McNamara was the chief financial officer of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging.
For more than 16 years she served on the board of the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, including 11 years as board chairwoman during two stints. She also served as board treasurer.
“Christine was the consummate Girl Scout, a woman of courage, confidence and character,” said Rich. “She never wavered in her commitment to making the lives of girls better.”
Rich…